Button-fastener



(No Model.)

L. KEMPS'HALL.

BUTTON FASTENER. No. 282,903. Patented Aug. '7, 1883.

N. Pucks hummu -11 m. Washingion. 0.1;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELEAZERKEMPSHALL, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

BUTTON-FASTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 282,903, datedApplication filed May 28, 1883. (No model.)

I To all whom it may, concern:

Be it known that I, ELEAZER KEMrsHALL, of New Britain, in the county ofHartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Button-Fast eners; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnishedand forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and completedescription of my invention.

My improved button-fastener belongs to that class of metallic devices bywhich buttons can be firmly secured to shoes without the use of asetting-tool specially devised for that purpose.

The objects of my invention are to present at the inner surface of ashoe a minimum bulk of metal, to have such metal as is necessarilypresented in such a form as will enable it when in use to be practicallyembedded in the lining of the shoe, so as to afford no abrasive pointsfor contact with stocking or foot, and to provide for a strong reliableconnection for the eye of the button, which can be wholly housed withinan ordinary punctured hole, such as is usually necessary inbutton-fasteners of the class before referred to.

So far as my knowledge extends, I have for the first time so formed asheet-metal buttonfastener embodying an integral head-bar and a hook,arranged to engage with the eye of a button, that said hook involvesonly one bend in the metal. Many prior sheet-metal fasteners havingdisk-shaped heads have had integral tongues, first bent at right anglesto the disk and then again bent upon themselves to form the hook, thusrequiring either very thin or tender metal or a weakened place at thebase of the hook incident to the short bend, and with such disk-heads atleast two bends are requisite in forming the hook. My fastener in itsblank form is cut from'comparatively heavy sheet metal, and has asubstantially straight head-bar and a hook-tongue normally at rightangles thereto, so that a single bend in the latter locates the point ofthe hook near to and opposite one side of the head-bar, thus affording adesired rigid hook for engaging with the eye of a button, and this hook,being left sufficiently open to receive the button-eye, can, whenapplied to use, be read- August '7, 1 8831 ily closed, if desired, or itwill serve a good purpose if left open.

To more particularly describe my invention I will refer to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 represent opposite viewsof one of my fasteners and a button as applied for use. blank from whichmyfastener is formed. Fig. 4' is a side and edge view of my fastener onan enlarged scale.

The head-bar a and hooktongue I) are integral, and the blanks Fig. 4 arecut, by means of suitable dies, from sheet metal of such thickness andcharacter as will afford a bar and hook of requisite strength. Thehead-bar a is practically straight onits two sides, but is rounded orconvex from end to end on its outer or cut edge, and on its inner edgeit is provided at each end with a projecting point, a, between which andthe tongue the bar on its under side is slightly concave. I am awarethat similar points have heretofore been employed on head-disks inconnection with puncturing-pins passing through said disks forsubsequent clinching with the eye of a button.

Fig. 3 is a top and edge view of the WVhen the tongue is bent into hookform, as

shown, with its point or tip adjacent to and opposite one side of thehead-bar, it is left suf ficiently open to receive the'wire eye of abutton, and whether said opening be closed or not it will be seen thatthe draft or pull on the button, as when using a button-hook, will be ina line at right angles to the head-bar, causing it to be practicallyembedded edgewise in the lining of the shoe, and especially at its ends,thus affording a smooth, even surface for contact with a stocking. Thetongue has sufficient rigidity to prevent the opening out ward of thehook under any strains incident to use, and it will be seen that themetal at the junction of the hook-tongue with the bar, as at b, remainsunchanged, and it istherefore not weakened, as in such prior fastenersas have a hook developed from a tongue out from a disk and first bent atright angles to the disk before forming the hook.

It will be seen that the hook of the fastener bar serve to consolidateand to draw inward toward the hole that portion of the leather or clothwhich lies between said points and the hook, thus rendering itpractically impossible for the comparatively slender bar to be tornthrough the shoe.

It is obvious that economy in metal is of consequence, in view of thefact that only a superior article thereof should be used, and that itmust be first rolled out at considerable cost; and it will be seen thatmy fasteners involve in the die-work for cutting out blanks acomparatively small amount of waste, and that although I am obliged touse heavier metal than usual, I am enabled to use stock so economically,having reference to its superficial. area, that my fasteners can bemanufactured at very, low cost. 7

It is obvious that the blank Fig. 4 may be worked in heading-dies, ifdesired, for varying the lateral contour of the head-bar, with' outweakening the metal at the junction of the hook and bar.

Having thus described my invention, I claim I as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent 1. Asheet-metal button-fastener having anintegral head-bar and hook, the latter projecting from the edge of saidbar, and having the metal at the junction of its shank with the bar inits normal or 'unbent condition, and having its point located adjacentto and opposite one side of said head-bar, substantially as described,whereby when in use said head-bar is embedded edgewise in the lining ofa shoe and the full strength of v the metal afforded at said junction,as set forth.

2. The metallic button-fastener consisting of the head-bar having at itsends the points a and an open hook integral with said bar and projectingfrom its edge, and having its open ing to receive the eye of a buttonclosely adjacent to and opposite one side of said bar, su stantially asdescribed.

ELEAZER KEMPsHALL.

\Vitnesses LYMAN S. Bonn, R. O. DURHAM.

